GREELEY, Colo. -- Junior Danna Restom netted her first goal of the year in the first minute of the contest and junior Abigail Lopez bookended that score with the game-tying goal with less than a minute remaining on Sunday afternoon, helping the Sacramento State women's soccer team escape with a 2-2 draw at Northern Colorado.
The Hornets remained unbeaten in their last three contests with the tie, moving to 3-5-3 overall on the year and 1-0-1 in league play. With the loss, the Bears remained winless at 0-10-2 overall and 0-1-1 in league.
It took very little time for Sacramento State to get on the board, opening the scoring before many fans would have a chance to take their seats for the contest. Isabella Vinsonhaler got the sequence started with a throw-in to Ariana Scholten at the edge of the 18, where she was met by the UNC defense. After some jostling, Ellie Farber came away with the ball, turned to her left and threaded a shot on goal between two Bear defenders.
The attempt was saved by the Northern Colorado goalkeeper, but the rebounded trickled loose into open space. Restom won a foot race to the ball, took a touch to the left, and poked a left-footed shot past a lunging keeper and another defender on the line for the 1-0 lead.
At 38 seconds in, the goal was the second-fastest score by a Hornet in regulation — and the fourth scored in under a minute — since 1998, trailing only Lisa Wrightsman's goal in 36 seconds at Northern Arizona on Oct. 4, 2002.
The stayed that way through the remainder of the first half and most of the second until Northern Colorado was able to tie the match with just under 14 minutes to play. A floating free kick from midfield slipped through the hands of Sacramento State's keeper and bounced toward the line where an attempted clear kicked off the post and in for an own goal.
Six minutes later, the Bears went ahead for the first time as a bouncing ball was misplayed in the box, squirting loose to Riley Kaali-Nagy on the left side. Kaali-Nagy then snuck a left-footed shot inside the left post for a 2-1 lead.
With time ticking away, it was the Hornets' turn for a dramatic finish as
Dalen Lau curved a cross to the top of the 18 where
Ellie Farber perfectly flicked a touch onto Lopez, who was able to stay onside. She took one touch to her left, then fired a low rocket to the lower right corner past a diving Bears keeper for the tying score.
It was Lopez's second goal of the week after she scored the game-winner on a second-half penalty kick against Northern Arizona on Friday and her fourth overall this season. Sunday's goal was the 11th of Lopez's career, moving her to within two of breaking into the school's all-time top-10 list, while the four goals this season matched her single-season career high set as a freshman when she finished with four goals and two assists in 2021.
Sacramento State out-shot Northern Colorado by a 19-6 count and had seven corner kicks to the Bears' four. Lopez finished with a match- and career-high seven shots — the most in a contest by a Hornet since Kylee Kim-Bustillos had the same number against California Baptist in Sept. 9, 2019.
The Hornets now must wait a week for their next contest, hosting Portland State on Sunday (Oct. 1) at 1 p.m. at Hornet Soccer Field.
